'Melrose Place' actress guilty in fatal NJ crash

Updated 2:25 pm, Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Former "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, of Hopewell Township, N.J., looks to her husband and mother as the jury in her trial returns a verdict on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 in Somerville, N.J. The jurors convicted Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide, but acquitted her of a more serious charge, aggravated manslaughter, in the 2010 accident that killed a 60-year-old woman. Somerset County prosecutors said Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township. The defence conceded she was driving under the influence. But her lawyer claimed a woman was chasing her after an earlier accident, forcing her to speed. (AP Photo/The Star-Ledger, Robert Sciarrino, Pool)

Former "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, of...

Attorney Ellen Torregrossa-O'Connor, left, holds the hand of former "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, of Hopewell Township, N.J. as the jury in her trial returns a verdict on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 in Somerville, N.J. The jurors convicted Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide, but acquitted her of a more serious charge, aggravated manslaughter, in the 2010 accident that killed a 60-year-old woman. Somerset County prosecutors said Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township. The defence conceded she was driving under the influence. But her lawyer claimed a woman was chasing her after an earlier accident, forcing her to speed. (AP Photo/The Star-Ledger, Robert Sciarrino, Pool)

Attorney Ellen Torregrossa-O'Connor, left, holds the hand of...

Mark Bovenizer, right, the husband of frormer "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, of Hopewell Township, looks toward the Superior Court Judge Robert Reed, as the jury returns a verdict on Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012 in Somerville, N.J. The jurors convicted Amy Locane-Bovenizer of vehicular homicide, but acquitted her of a more serious charge, aggravated manslaughter, in the 2010 accident that killed a 60-year-old woman. Somerset County prosecutors said Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township. The defence conceded she was driving under the influence. But her lawyer claimed a woman was chasing her after an earlier accident, forcing her to speed. (AP Photo/The Star-Ledger, Robert Sciarrino, Pool)

Mark Bovenizer, right, the husband of frormer "Melrose Place"...

Former "Melrose Place" actress Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, second from left, of Hopewell Township, N.J. is taken into custody after jurors in Somerville, N.J., convicted her of vehicular homicide. At left is her attorney Ellen Torregrossa-O'Connor. (AP Photo/Robert Sciarrino, pool)

SOMERVILLE, N.J. — A former "Melrose Place" actress who was driving drunk when her SUV plowed into another car, killing a woman, was convicted Tuesday of vehicular homicide and jailed after her bail was revoked. She was acquitted of a more serious charge of aggravated manslaughter.

Amy Locane-Bovenizer, 40, had sought to shift blame for the fatal accident to a third motorist whose car she had rear-ended and who had been pursuing the actress, and also to the husband of the car accident victim for making what witnesses said was a slow turn in front of her SUV.

But the conviction on a charge of death by auto, also known as vehicular homicide, was as a matter of law a "rejection of that defense," Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Murphy said following the verdict.

Locane-Bovenizer's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred in 2010 on a dark two-lane road in Montgomery Township, in central New Jersey, according to evidence presented at the trial.